British .308 Sterling prototype

Here’s an interesting piece – a British prototype 7.62mm rifle based on the Sterling submachine gun. We don’t have much information about it, but that is definitely an FAL magazine and a Sterling grip and fire control group.

There are a lot of Sterling parts kits out there on the market, and pretty cheap. This would be a very cool build for someone who wanted something a bit different.

As always, you can see the complete gallery (including a number of closeups of the bolt, which would be the hardest part to build) at the British .308 Sterling prototype page in the Vault. If we do have an adventurous soul out there willing to take on a project like this, let us know! We would love to see your work.

This weapon uses Lever-Delayed blowback to handle more powerful rifle rounds as well as having smooth recoil making it controllable in full auto, and more accurate, reliable than gas-operated weapons for many reasons. I would assume its rate of fire would be high.

PS: Has this weapon been test fired?, or did it come with any stock/bipod/sight etc?.

That’s actually a British prototype LMG developed from the Sterling SMG as a potential replacement/substitute standard for the L4 series Brens. As far as I know, it was never produced on a large scale and never saw combat.

Cutaway: If toggle lock was so much more reliable than gas operated guns, why are gas operated guns still being designed and manufactured, while the only modern toggle lock firearm (FAMAS) is being phased out for a more “modern” platform? Toggle lock firearms have their benefits, but reliability and reliability aren’t among those reasons.

GunGuy: Its becouse the action of delayed-blowback firearms are packed into the bolt making the rest of the weapon easier to maintain, slightly more accurate/powerful, simpler etc. Lever-Delayed Blowback weapons, most notably the TKB-517 followed by the 2B-A-40, AVB-7.62, FAMAS, STK PDW and recently firearms developed by ČZW have proven to be highly sucsessful.

@GunGuy
For the FAMAS that’s not the platform the problem but the weapon who have more than 20 years of services & now the factory is close. Many FAMAS are older than the soldier.
For reliability and reliability the FAMAS is better than AR15 and could support the punch of an Rifle grenade.

It’s kind of hard to tell but it looks like the majority of the right side is wide open to dust, dirt and mud. Given that this would be used in combat, I would think that the board that would be approving this for the troops would automatically give it a thumbs down,